Fighting continues as cease-fire is sought

Israel suffered its bloodiest day in Lebanon in its offensive against Hezbollah, with militants killing at least eight soldiers in a battle for the strategic town of Bint Jbail.

Israeli warplanes destroyed an empty building containing the offices of Hezbollah's south Lebanon commander in Tyre. One person was killed in a strike that destroyed the headquarters of the [filtered word]e Amal movement in the town of Zefta, officials said.

A top Israeli commander said he expected the campaign to last "several more weeks."

Hezbollah guerrillas fired one of their largest barrages in days into northern Israel - 119 rockets that wounded at least 31 people and damaged property.

U.S., European and Arab officials holding crisis talks failed to agree on an immediate plan to halt the fighting. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged the international community to work quickly to end the "spasms of violence," but the U.S. remained isolated from most of its allies by insisting that any cease-fire address the region's long-term problems.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said he would commit troops to a military force for Lebanon if it had a U.N. mandate.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep regret" over the killings of four U.N. peacekeepers in an airstrike and dismay over U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's accusation the bombing was "apparently deliberate."

Olmert said Israel wants to establish a strip of a little more than a mile wide in south Lebanon that will be free of Hezbollah guerrillas, giving the dimensions of a new "security zone" for the first time.

A Canadian chartered ship was being sent to rescue more than 300 Americans, Australians and citizens of other nations stranded in south Lebanon, as the massive evacuation from the fighting wound down.

Relatives of the two Israeli soldiers whose capture on July 12 triggered the fighting, said in Paris that France should do all it can to secure their release.

Israeli aircraft and artillery fired at Palestinian militants in Gaza, killing 18 Palestinians, including 12 militants and at least three little girls, as Israel pressed ahead with its offensive alongside fighting in Lebanon.